Manager Jim Goodwin was full of praise for Emmanuel Adegboyega after his winning goal for Dundee United against St Mirren – but his words towards the defender weren’t so pleasant at half-time.
Adegboyega sent the noisy travelling support in Paisley into raptures when he headed home the only goal on 75 minutes to secure an excellent three points to continue United’s unbeaten away record in the Scottish Premiership.
But it was a welcome reprieve for the Norwich loanee after he missed a glaring chance to open the scoring in the first half with Goodwin making that clear to the centre-back during the interval.
Asked whether Adegboyega showed great determination to pop up in the opposition box again after his miss, Goodwin joked: “It probably shows he’s better with his head than his feet!
“I don’t know how he missed the chance in the first half and we said that with some not so nice words at half-time. That ball needed to end up in the back of the net, especially in such a tight game.
“You hope you’re going to get those sorts of opportunities from long throws and corners but that needs to end in a goal. We should’ve been leading at half-time and we said at the break that one goal would win it but thankfully we came out on top.
“Emmanuel is a young centre-back that is developing continuously and we’re working really hard with him. He’s got a great profile from a centre-back in terms of his size, physicality, pace and he’s comfortable on the ball despite a few loose passes.
“He’ll grab the headlines for the goal but that’s now what he’s in the team for. The whole squad have chipped in with goals throughout the campaign and we need everybody to contribute – hopefully the strikers will catch fire at some point.”
St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson felt his side created enough chances to win the game as he was left ruing their wasteful finishing.
The hosts created the better chances but they couldn’t find a way past Jack Walton as they fell to their second consecutive defeat.
“We had numerous chances to win the game,” said Robinson. “I can’t remember Ellery [Balcombe] having a save to make in the last four or five games. We didn’t react to the shot and we got punished but we dominated large parts and created.
“We just didn’t have that end product and if you don’t finish off then you leave yourself open to an error. I felt in total control of the game. I thought we were giving it some good energy.
“We maybe ran out some legs at 60 minutes but we’re getting players back which gives me options. We’re just in a moment where things aren’t going our way.”
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